


Faint Tattoos and Coffee Stains

by Usuishi



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Cute, Fluff, For The 2014 Prucan Gift Exchange, M/M, Soulmate AU, coffee shop AU, prucan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-29
Updated: 2014-12-29
Packaged: 2018-03-21 00:28:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3670728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Usuishi/pseuds/Usuishi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>GIlbert had never been one to believe in dumb things like soulmates and love at first sight. At least not until another man's name started appearing on his wrist.<br/>Writting for Kon-Centration on Tumblr as part of the 2014 Prucan Gift Exchange around Christmas</p>
            </blockquote>





	Faint Tattoos and Coffee Stains

Gilbert was never really one to believe in silly things like fate and soulmates. He had heard about it his whole life, though. Heard about the tattoo-like markings on the inner part of someone’s wrist, supposedly the name of their soulmate.

The thought was strange to him as a child. Why would a mark try to tell him who he was supposed to be with for the rest of his life. What about all the risks? If the other person died or got hurt. Would you yourself know?

How could biology possibly know which person out of millions were meant to be with you specifically? It was just strange, and made no sense to him, so he never really bothered trying to show interest.

If he liked someone, he liked them. That was the only thought he ever really put into these sorts of things.

So when the first faint traces of a name appeared on his inner wrist one morning, he was interested, but he tried not to pay too much attention to the light silver letters scrawled across his wrist.

It was too faint to read for now, though Gilbert spent a few minutes staring at it in confusion. After deciding it was probably useless even trying for now, he shrugged and got up out of bed, tossing the covers to the side and dragging himself to the bathroom to take a shower.

He washed up quickly, then got out and wrapped a towel around his hips, going to dry his hair. He rubbed his head with the towels, catching a brief glimpse of the marking on his wrist. Had it… gotten darker?

He froze and stared at it for a few moments, only able to make out the first two letters: an M and an A.

Ma? Matt? Mark? Maddie?

The albino frowned a bit, thinking it over as he dressed, throwing on a dark t-shirt and a pair of skinny jeans.

Glancing at his phone’s, he cursed under his breath, rushing to pull on his sneakers and a hoodie. He grabbed his keys as he passed the spot where they hung by the door, dashing out and heading down the stairs to the lobby of his apartment building.  
“See you later, Antonio!” he called out as he slipped through the lobby to the front doors, passing one of the mechanics who worked at the apartment building. Well at least they were finally getting around to fixing the air conditioning.

The cheerful Spanish man returned the greeting, giving Gilbert a brief wave before looking back over the paper he had been working math problems out on.

Gilbert hummed to himself, jogging down the street. by now he had a good fifteen minutes left until his shift started at one of the local coffee shops. It took him about twelve minutes to jog there.

The bell above the door chimed as he stepped inside, heading over to the counter and quickly hopping over the lower part.

“You’d better wash that!” he heard the other worker, Lovino, yell after him as he headed back to get the apron he had to wear. He nearly grabbed Felix’s, looking at the name tag before he pulled his off it’s hook and tying it around his waist after taking his hoodie off against and setting it aside.

“Yeah, yeah. Calm down, I’m gonna take care of it,” he waved his hand dismissively, coming out with a rag to wipe down the area of the counter that he had just slid across. Lovino glanced over at him, beginning to undo the apron tied about his waist. “Take over for me when you’re done, will you? Felix should be coming in soon, if he decides to be on time today. Good luck,” the hot-headed Italian said offhandedly, walking to the back and leaving Gilbert at the front counter.

The albino sighed and nodded, going over to the register after he set his rag aside. He looked out over the cozy little coffee shop briefly, taking in the few people who were there. Shrugging a little, he tugged his phone out quickly to check the time and see if he had any new text messages.

Sadly, there were none, though Gilbert noticed something else as his wrist flashed into view. The lettering on his skin had darkened, and the letters were now more clear and pronounced.

Matthew? Well there was no Matthew in the shop now, was there? He thought he would have noticed by now if his so-called ‘soulmate’ were in the building he was working in.

Right as that thought passed through his mind, the door opened with it’s usual cheery jingle from the bell above it, and a rather tall young man stepped into the shop, carefully tugging his curly blond hair free from the clutches of his scarf.

Gilbert nearly froze, staring at this stranger with a strange interest. Why did he look so familiar? He was pretty sure he had never met this guy, yet he felt like he knew him. There was a strange feeling settling heavier in his gut as the young man walked over to the register.  
He ordered in a soft, almost quiet voice, and Gilbert almost didn’t hear him over his sudden daze. What was wrong with him, all he did was take one look at the guy and-

…Oh no.

“Hello? Are you okay, sir?” the blond asked, waving his hand in front of his face, “Do I need to call someone?” Gilbert froze, his crimson eyes catching the flash of a jet black on the blond’s inner wrist. It was his name. His very own name in his own messy scrawl, written over this boy’s wrist like a brand new tattoo.

“You… You’re Matthew?” he asked suddenly, slipping out of his daze and looking up to meet brilliant blue eyes, that almost looked violet in the light.

The young man’s face scrunched up in confusion, and as hard as Gilbert tried not to feel it, something in his chest nearly melted at the look. “How do you know my name?” he asked, before he glanced down at his own wrist. His eyes widened then, and he looked back up at Gilbert.

“Y-You…” He blinked, looking over Gilbert’s face like it was the last thing he would see, as if he were trying to memorize every aspect, every plane of Gilbert’s cheeks and jaw and every fleck in his eyes. “You’re GIlbert?” he nearly breathed, and the paler man nodded, slowly pulling away from the blond young man.

“Yeah… Yeah I am… Um… I’ll get you that coffee. It’ll be on me. Maybe we can talk later?” he asked, looking almost hopefully at Matthew, who quickly nodded. “I have a few things I need to work on for class, so I can just stay here and work on them until you get off of work,” he smiled faintly, patting the messenger bag at his side.

“College?” Gilbert asked, almost frightened by the idea his soulmate might be a highschool kid while he was 22.

Matthew nodded. “I’m 19, don’t worry. Started college this last fall,” he said, as if reading Gilbert’s mind about the age concern. Or maybe it was something to do with this weird soulmate thing.

Gilbert nodded, quickly writing Matthew’s name down on a receipt. “I… I’ll be right back,” he nearly stammered, internally kicking himself for seeming so… un-cool.

Matthew smiled and nodded again, going to stand off to the side while Gilbert made his coffee for him. He grinned and held it out to the blond, who took it and sipped at it graciously. “Just… come let me know when you’re done. Maybe we can go out for dinner and I can repay you for this coffee,” he gave just the tiniest hint of a smirk, and that was when Gilbert realized it.

He was already head over heels for this guy.

—

Matthew snorted a bit, happily cuddling up to Gilbert’s side as best as he could with the albino practically sprawled out over the couch. They were watching some weird Christmas movie, one that Gilbert was hardly paying attention to with all the nervousness he could feel twisting his gut. Matthew was the only one really watching the film.

They had already been dating for about a year now (plus or minus a few months) and had spent the whole day setting up for the upcoming Holiday. Gilbert hadn’t been to keen on the idea of trying to put a fake tree together and string it with lights in his apartment, though he could never say no to Matthew when he gave him that pleading puppy look.

It was one of his weak spots when it came to Matthew. So now the living room of his apartment was adorned with lights and a tree, and there were already a few presents wrapped up neatly under the tree.

Though Gilbert’s best gift for his boyfriend wasn’t under there. In fact, it was resting in his pocket, the small black box weighing heavy against his thigh.

“Hey Matthew?” he asked suddenly, lifting his hand from where he had been running his fingers through the stunningly soft blond locks. Matthew raised his head to look up at Gilbert. “Yeah?” he asked softly. He carefully sat up, thinking Gilbert needed to get up.

The albino hesitated a few moments before he did indeed get up from the suddenly incredibly comfortable couch, kneeling in front of Matthew, who looked down at him in confusion.

“Matthew… You know I loved you nearly from the very first time I looked at you,” he paused, Matthew rolling his eyes a little and smiling down at the Albino.

“Gilbert, what are you doing?” he asked gently, though Gilbert shook his head a little and kept going.

 

“And I know you’ve probably been waiting for me to get the balls to do this for months… but… will you marry me?” he blurted out, pulling out the small box and holding it out to the blond.

Matthew blinked in surprise, taking the velvet box and slowly opening it. “You… I…” he smiled brightly, taking the ring from the box and slipping it onto his finger. “Yes.”

Gilbert looked up at him and smiled brightly, pulling Matthew into his arms and kissing him sweetly. The blond eagerly returned the kiss, pulling back and nodding again, breathless.

Gilbert couldn’t keep himself from smiling, the movie behind them long forgotten. “I love you, Matthew,” he whispered, and the Canadian nodded, hugging Gilbert tight. “I love you too… Merry Christmas, Gil,” he said softly.

“Merry Christmas, my sweet little bird.”

Biology had nothing to do with it when it came to faint tattoos and coffee stains.


End file.
